Mutharika to launch Malawi national IDs project on Wednesday

President Peter Mutharika will on Wednesday launch national identity cards (IDs) project to address the challenges Malawians have long faced due to the absence of the documents.

National ID: Sample

Malawi is the only country in southern Africa without such IDs for its citizens.

The President, who returned home Sunday after a weeks-long visit to the United States that sparked rumours over his health, will launch the project

at the Bingu International Conference Centre (BICC) in Lilongwe.

During the launch, a symbolic presentation of the national identity cards to President Mutharika, the First Lady, Vice president Saulos Chilima and his wife among others will be done, according to government statement.

The launch of IDs project by Mutharika willocool off rumours of the president’s ill health which continued with his return when used his left hand to wave to a crowd of supporters and to shake hands with officials.

More speculation among Malawians continued with other spreading information that Mutharika would be flown out of the country for treatment.

But government says “sickening rumours” are appalling.

The ID’s project is a milestone of the Mutharika government as Malawians currently use driving licenses, passports, and in some cases voter registration certificates as proof of their citizenship in places and institutions where identification is needed.

Those who don’t have such documents are asked to bring any person with a passport or driving license to be a witness.

Malawians who cannot fulfill such requiremenrts cannot get assistance in places like commercial banks and money lending institutions.

Health authorities say the absence of national IDs is putting strain on medical resources because foreigners come to take advantage of free medical services in public hospitals, particularly in border districts.

Campaigners against child trafficking also say lack of identification is contributing to an increase in trafficking cases.

Malawi’s government introduced the National Registration Bureau in 2007 to oversee the process of issuing national identity documents.

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santana

Mr Gogodasi and Mr Logic should be the most disappointed people on this planet(not only Malawi) for seeing Mutharika arriving at KIA in the form he was not on a stretcher as the devilish media was anticipating. The issue here should not be the left or right hand use. The issue is whether Mutharika came in a coffin or alive. It is very shameful to Malawian media that without investigating the truth of the issue they took a lie from newspapers from Zimbabwe who first wrote that the Malawi leader is dead in the US. The opposition welcomed this and… Read more »

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1 year ago

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observer

Reporting -i think is a talent- Journalist should strive to get as much information as possible. You would have gone further than the launch- what is the cost of this ID- is it going to be rolled out free of charge- may be i missed this part- am not a politician- always when our government has no money it initiates a service that will force everyone to have it at a very high cost- watch this space- the charges will be according to time frames- if you want ID within 3days -u will get it at a higher price- 7-days-… Read more »

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1 year ago

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Gogodasi

“The launch of IDs project by Mutharika will cool off rumours of the president’s ill health which continued with his return when used his left hand to wave to a crowd of supporters and to shake hands with officials”. Thom Chimia, it is too early to make this statement. How sure that this will cool off the rumour of The President’s ill health. It all depends on what will happen on the day and whether he will sound normal otherwise any slight change to his voice will heighten the rumour and make things worse. You may even be disappointed to… Read more »

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1 year ago

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Dziko ndi ndalama ndi zathu

Dual citizen is a good idea in my opinion only for travel purposes. But really to develop any country no one has to have two countries to have citizenship. Investments is about capital and natural resources and this most of our people in the so called diaspora dont have it. This dual citizenship will be to the advantage of foreigners who might have a better currency to invest in Malawi. A perfect example would be to look at the oil rich Nigerians like Aliko Dangote who started his business in Nigeria and now he is the wealthiest African AND HE… Read more »

FOTSEKI IF NIGERIANS AND BURUNDIANS ARE ABLE TO OBTAIN MALAWI PASSPORT THEY WILL ALSO BE ABLE TO GET THIS NATIONAL ID. WAS THIS ISSUE DISCUSSED IN PARLIAMENT? IS THIS A NATIONAL PRIORITY? NO FOOD ; NO MEDICINE . THIS CASHGATE ID PROJECT HOW MUCH WILL IT COST. r

While I welcome the IDs please make sure that they are also not hijacked by foreigners. Our Passport which was readily acceptable everywhere was hijacked by Nigerians and Zimbabweans who were getting it easier than locals during the era of the late immigration officer. As regards duo citizenship there are still many prosperous nations who maintain single citizenship but are successful. Although this could be a good initiative, 95% of Malawians in diaspora are living hand to mouth and I really wonder whether it would bring any investment at all. I am diaspora and I haven’t really find the real… Read more »

Malawians abroad have asked for dual citizenship like many African countries are doing now. These will help the poor nation Like Malawi to encourage Diaspora to invest and save money in their oountry. It will bring forex to the country. We diasporas are still Màlawians in our heart. But we hold citizenship of where we have worked and have pension. Some became citizens because of marriage. We can not give up pension and return home without money but can bring our pension into the country. Many countries in the world have allowed dual citizenship. Malawi is so behind everything. When… Read more »